‘Ride Civil’ a less intrusive alternative to Critical Mass

Last month’s conflict between a driver and a group of cyclists during Critical Mass has led some to look for an alternative.

Like Critical Mass, Ride Civil is a monthly bike ride to promote the two-wheeled lifestyle. But unlike its chaotic cousin, its cyclists don’t block traffic to do it.

We spoke with Ride Civil organizer Dave Reeck, who also participates in Critical Mass, about the ride that started last October and what’s next for the city’s cycling community.

Big Blog: Have you seen more interest in the group since the latest Critical Mass controversy?

David Reeck: Yup, we’ve had much more interest. People have been providing artwork, setting up domains and we had our largest turnout ever last Friday (Aug. 8).

BB: How do you interpret that new interest?

DR: I think mostly it’s a function of increased awareness of the ride, driven by coverage of the Aloha incident. We got some coverage from the Stranger, KUOW, and of course a few user postings on the P-I.

Probably we also had some riders decide to come out because they were disturbed by the violence last month.

BB: Compare Critical Mass and Ride Civil. How do they relate? Who are they for?

DR: RideCivil and Critical Mass are pretty similar in most ways, with the largest difference being the principals and riding behaviors our riders agree to. Especially with the larger group like we had on last Friday it’s important to get some basic agreements about what we’re going to do (signaling, riding two abreast, following traffic laws – more here).

RideCivil is an opportunity for cyclists who want to participate in an urban, awareness raising, fun-having ride who aren’t comfortable with blocking traffic or some of the negative impressions of Critical Mass.

BB: How was the crowd and its tone at your most recent ride different from previous rides?

DR: Bigger. Generally I think the the crowd’s tone was about the same as we’ve had on other rides. We’ve always focused on the ‘smile and wave’ aspect of having fun, but the larger size definitely took it up a notch. Friday’s ride was a ton of fun, and I hope we can keep up the participation.

BB: As you know, the Critical Mass controversy deepened tensions between cars and drivers. How do you think we should deal with those?

DR: From a structural point of view, I think the biggest impact on tension between drivers and cars will come from more education about cyclists on the road. Many people have misconceptions about how and where cyclists should be using the roads. Better education for road users will help this, but I think this is a multi-year project at the very least.

There are other big-ticket solutions that may help as well, improved infrastructure (bike lanes, green lanes, and bike boxes like Portland has) can play a part.

On a day to day basis, I think raising the awareness of cyclists on the road is really critical (here’s a post on this — we’re also thinking of a new slogan… “We’re here”).

The other day-to-day solution is to fight the idea that cyclists, pedestrians and motorists are struggling with each other. We all just gotta get along. Let’s face it — we’re trapped together in a huge transportation mess, and more people are adopting cycling every day.

Riding a bike is dangerous enough without thinking that somebody might actually mean to run you down, or that that kid on the bike is dissing you when he cuts you off (probably she was just avoiding a car door opened into the bike lane).

BB: Finally, do you think Critical Mass is still productive? What would you change about it?

I think Critical Mass is generally a productive event — almost all of these rides go off without incident. It’s only occasionally that a few cause trouble, be it motorists running over cyclists or cyclists assaulting motorists. One of the great things about Critical Mass is that it’s not organized, so every participant’s got a chance to make their own changes.

The changes I’d like to see in Critical Mass? More participants keeping the ride as positive and trouble free as possible. I’ll be riding next month and doing just that.

Reeck is a daily, year-round bike commuter. Find his posts at Bikehugger.com.